Phantom in the Forest
by SuperPhan14
Summary: Maddie plans a weekend get-a-way camping trip with Danny in order to find out what has been troubling him lately, but when a certain crazed fruitloop leaves Danny trapped as Phantom with his mother in the middle of the wilderness, will his secret stay intact? Will he even make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1

**Alright guys, this is my first Danny Phantom fanfic! :) This idea has been floating in my head since November but work and class have kept me from posting, I hope you all enjoy.**

Just when he thought things were going his way, life decided that it wasn't satisfied with the young boy being content.

"We are what?!" Flashbacks of the last two failed Fenton family vacations flashed through his mind as he looked at the woman disbelievingly.

"Camping. It's only for the weekend and it will give us time to reconnect. It'll be fun," Coaxed his mother, dressed in her typical blue hazmat suit. "Your father and sister are going to tour a university two states over, so it's either sit around here or get out and enjoy nature!" _Yeah, I remember the last 'mother-son' trip we took, we ended up bailing out of a plane over the middle of nowhere and into the hands of a certain crazed up fruit-loop_ he thought darkly. "Besides Danny, what could go wrong? It's just a simple camping trip!" she smiled as she looked up from her bag.

"Great," he muttered under his breath, "you probably just jinxed us, you are as bad as Tuck".

"What was that sweetie?"

"Oh, just said 'Great, I'll go pack!" He turned from the living room and walked upstairs to his room. Nearly a year of ghost fighting and maintaining a secret identity had made it easy for the raven-haired teen to slip lies past his family and friends.

He guessed in a way it was good for him and his mother to get out of town for the extended weekend. He honestly hadn't had anything planned, both Sam and Tucker were going to events out of town; Sam to New York for some fancy gala her parents were attending, and Tucker had persuaded his parents to take him to a technology symposium in Chicago.

At first he worried about going with his mom, not because if a ghost attacked them, he knew his mom was more than apt to protect them and he could 'help' if needed, he was worried a ghost would attack Amity Park while 'Team Phantom' and the more-able Fenton's were away. Thankfully, Valerie was staying in town, and she could handle almost anything that was thrown her way.

He sighed, "Maybe things will be fine. I need a small break anyways" as he started to pack. 

Jack burst into the living room carrying supplied from the lab. "Hey Mads! Did Danny agree to go camping?"

She look up at her orange-clad husband "It took some persuading, but he is going" Maddie smiled, however the smile didn't reach her eyes.

"It'll be fun, don't worry"

"I know…but Jack, what if I can't figure out what is going on with him? You should have been there, before he would have jumped on the opportunity to go camping, to leave town even for a day. But now he acted like it was a huge deal if he left as if everything would fall apart if he left even for a minute. I'm worried about him, what if he needs more help than we can provide?" Maddie sighed. Jack went over to his wife and placed one of his oversized hands on her shoulder.

"He's a Fenton, he'll be fine, and even if something is wrong, we can handle it." He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, but she paid no attention to him, wrapped in her thoughts.

"Jack, he's skipping class, his grades suddenly plummeted, he is constantly tired, depressed, and he comes home late almost every night. I know he is being bullied by some of the other kids at school, but Danny assured us everything was fine that it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but he comes home sometimes with huge bruises and cuts that he tries to cover!"

Tears formed in her eyes as she recalled two weeks ago when he was trying to sneak in past curfew…again. She had caught him walking upstairs and confronted him. Of course he made some excuse as to why he was arriving nearly 45 minutes past curfew, stating that he got distracted by a new video game that Tucker had and time had slipped past him. That's when she saw it, he was obviously trying to hide it by pulling his shirt sleeve lower and turning the left side of his body away from her, but it was all in vain, she caught a glimpse of the large bruise that spread just under the hem of his ringer tee sleeve. If she wasn't mistaken, a rather deep looking gash ran right next to it. He made some excuse about not being hungry and he'd be in his room getting ready for bed.

She brushed the occurrence off, thinking it must have been a trick of her eyes in the dim light, surely he would have said something or acted in some sort of pain. Maddie finished what she was working on and headed upstairs herself to get ready for bed, she stopped by Danny's room to make sure everything was ok, but when she knocked on the door and no one answered she had gone into his room, only to find he wasn't there. A haphazardly packed first aid kit was barely visible, sticking out from under his bed. Disregarded bandage wrappings, which had disguised but not well enough, jutted out of the trashcan by his desk. But perhaps the most disturbing find of the scene, other than her missing son, was the blood drops scattered on the floor near his bed. _So it WASN'T_ _a trick of my eyes earlier!_ She thought to herself.

She had thought about calling for her husband and searching the entire house-and town-if needed, for her missing son. He was obviously injured if he needed the contents of that first aid kit, what if he needed more urgent medical care? She shivered as a sudden cold chill overtook her, passing by her in the hallway. Her ghost hunting side picked up on it, but quickly dismissed it as a breeze. She figured if it were a ghost, the sensors would pick up on it and sound the ecto alarms. Moments later, the shower turned on down the hall; _interesting,_ she thought, _I could've sworn the door was open and no one was in there just a moment ago_.

She turned and went to her room and finished getting ready for bed, by the time she was done she could hear Danny walking to his room and closing his door. _At least he's ok…for now. I'll confront him tomorrow at breakfast and find out who did this to him. No one hurts my baby boy._

The next morning though, she found that the spot on Danny's arm was gone, not a trace of the bruise that she could've sworn she had seen the night before. At first she had been relieved, but then a darker thought pushed its way into her mind, sparked by the images of the blood and bandages from the waste basket. What if he was harming himself like some of the kids his age do? What if this was something she wasn't equipped to handle? That's why she concocted this plan to get to the bottom of her son's troubles.

"Mads? Maddie? Are you with me?" Jack's voice boomed and shook her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah Jack, sorry." Maddie gave a sad smile. "There is something wrong with him, but I'm determined to find out. He needs us."

 **Alright, so I should have the next chapter up here within the next week or so! Please review and help me make this story as great as it can be!**


	2. Chapter 2: Into the Forest

**Wow! I got a lot of support from Chapter 1, and was really nervous about writing Chapter 2, because I wanted it to be just as awesome as the previous one! This chapter starts off a bit more slowly than the last, but I promise it picks up and gets interesting!**

Danny sat in the passenger seat of the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, his arms crossed and his face stuck in a slight scowl as he recalled the events leading up to them leaving this morning. It was nothing he couldn't handle, just slightly aggravating and inconvenient to his sleep.

The Box Ghost had shown up throughout the night, not once, but THREE times trying to doom mankind with his 'cardboard terror'. After throwing him into the Ghost Zone twice, Danny finally snapped and resorted to trapping him into a Fenton Thermos and phasing said thermos into the wall of his closet for extra security.

Guilt washed over the boy as he suddenly realized he had forgotten to put the poor Box Ghost back into the Ghost Zone before he left with his mom. _Oh well, we will be back on Monday, he'll be fine until then._ His mind went back to thinking about the events of the morning, which had gone on without a hitch after the overall-clad blue ghost had been caught, until his alarm jolted him awake at 7am.

Jolted, however, didn't even begin to cover it. Technus apparently thought it would be fun to animate his alarm clock and have it attack him when he woke up, which it did, the blasted thing _BIT_ him! He got the last laugh though after he backhanded it off the nightstand and then obliterated it with an ectoblast. A slight smile played across his lips and he stifled a laugh at the memory of it, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his hand that had since healed.

He gave a sideways glace at his mom, who was currently singing off-key to some 80's hit that was playing on the radio. She had been acting strange around him for the past two weeks, constantly looking over at him and seeming to want to know if everything was ok. At first the halfa had thought his mother was onto his secret, but quickly dismissed it as typical motherly concern.

In a way he didn't blame her, he had been acting even more withdrawn lately, coming home hours after curfew, and the rare occurrence when he was around his parents, he would often be extremely moody and standoffish with his folks. He frowned, _great, I don't know what's worse, them knowing I'm one of the vile things they hunt or them thinking I'm getting into trouble with gangs or drugs._

Danny rested his head against the cool glass of the passenger window, and watched as the scenery began to become more saturated with greenery as the trees increased in density. The view slowly lulled the young halfa to sleep quicker than he could've imagined, but even in sleep he was haunted by the very ghosts he protected his town from and his peaceful sleep was pitched into a raging nightmare.

Maddie looked over to her son, noticing he had drifted off to sleep since the last time she had checked on him. She gave Danny a concerned look as his tossed and cried out quietly from his slumber. She could have sworn she heard something along the lines of "I'll never turn into you", but she could barely make it out since he had mumbled it under his breath.

She sighed, knowing that with each passing moment her baby boy was slipping further away from her. Who was her son afraid of turning into? Was he dreaming about Jack and herself? Did he resent their profession so much that he couldn't stand to turn into a paranormal scientist? Did he really hate them that much?

A stray tear inched down her face as she pulled the GAV into the small parking lot of the ranger station. She reached to the ignition and turned the key to the "off" position. The enormous command-center of a vehicle fell quiet and the only sounds that could be heard were that of Danny's soft snoring in the seat next to her. Maddie didn't wat to wake him, he had finally fallen into a less fitful sleep several minutes before arriving, and his face had taken on a more peaceful look. It reminded her of the young boy that she knew before he went to high school, the one she would take to the park and discuss all things astronomy, he didn't feel like the stranger that he had become to her.

"Danny, sweetie?" She coaxed, "We're here. It's time to wake up." She reached over to nudge him, but when she was about to reach for his shoulder, his hand came up and gripped around her wrist. Maddie gasped at the nearly crushing grasp her son had on her arm, but that wasn't the most shocking. What had her in awe was the fact her son's usual icy blue eyes had a hint of a toxic neon green for a few seconds before he snapped out of his attack on his mother and let go of her arm.

"Oh geez mom, I'm so sorry! I guess you startled me! I didn't hurt you, did I?" Danny asked, concern and guilt lacing his every word.

"N-no, I'm…fine…" she unintentionally hesitated, cradling her wrist with her other hand. In all honesty her wrist stung, red marks already fighting for dominance on her ivory skin.

Danny cringed inside, he knew he hurt his mother, that she was hiding it from him. He also knew that this would make her even more bewildered about him because he was _supposed_ to be puny, weak, Danny Fenton.

She noticed his crestfallen face, "Danny, its ok! I just forgot that you aren't a little kid anymore, you have grown into a strong young man!" she pulled him into a semi-hug, eliciting an immediate response from the youngest Fenton.

"MOOOOMM!" He whined out as he pushed her away from him, an embarrassed blush tinging his face with a rosy hue. Maddie chuckled at his teen antics as he crossed his arms and turned from her.

"Come on Danny, let's get our gear so we can set up camp before it gets dark out." He happily obliged, jumping out of the GAV at a breakneck speed with his backpack slung over one shoulder and a duffle carrying supplies over the other.

Danny glared at his mom, who was just ahead of him on the path. She said that it wouldn't be very far once they left the parking lot at the ranger station. They had been hiking for what felt like several hours, but in fact, had only been a little over an hour and a half.

"Um, mom? Any chance our campsite is near?" He glanced at the sky. Years of studying astronomy for fun had trained him to tell time with the sun's position. He quickly gathered that they only had two more hours of daylight tops, and they still had to get to a clearing and set up camp before it got dark outside.

"Not too much further sweetie, just a bit more, I want to have a nice clearing near the stream, it shouldn't be too far now." Even with her extensive martial arts training and athletic ability that came with being a world renowned ghost hunter, she was beginning to tire and was impatiently yearning to sit and eat something. She turned her neck to check on her son, who insisted on walking at least five steps behind her. Her own breathing was slowly becoming more labored as the terrain began to incline as they reached the hill they would be staying on, but a quick look at her son had her again questioning him as he climbed the incline with little strain and steady breathing. The same son who she knew was currently close to failing gym class, wasn't even breaking a sweat, in fact, boredom seemed to hint across his face as he pulled himself across the landing that they would call their camp for the next two days.

The mother-son team worked for the next half hour setting up tents and had made a small circle of dirt and rocks to build a fire in once the sun had set. Maddie had several nagging questions on the back of her mind for her son, she figured now was a good time as any to ask a few of the less pressing ones.

"Hey mom?" "Hey Danny?" They asked at the exact same time.

"Oh sorry mom, go ahead"

"No sweetie, you go first" Maybe he was going to open up to her a bit she hoped.

"Um, ok. Do you want me to go get some firewood real quick? Before it starts getting dark?" Maddie emotionally deflated like a balloon, but perked back up at the opportunity to get some parental bonding in with her son while collecting the scrap wood for tonight's fire.

"Sure sweetie! Let me finish up real quick and then we can go get—"

"I was kinda hoping to go by myself, I promise I won't wonder off too far and I'll be back as soon as possible" He was starting to feel smothered by his mother's presence, and she picked up on it.

"That's fine, but please be careful and hurry back ok?" He nodded wordlessly and headed off in the direction of the nearby creek his form quickly shrouded by trees, leaving her on her own.

 _That should do it for today_ he thought as he gathered a few more small, arm length branches into the bundle nestled into the crook of his arm. _Now to get back to camp and see what mo—_ a blue wisp of air curled out of his mouth, sending a chill throughout his body. _Not here…not NOW!_ Danny dropped the kindling and quickly transformed. His body, no longer bound by gravity, floated up into the air as neon green eyes scanned the area. He heard the charging of an ecto-gun and turned just as the blast knocked him to the ground.

"Hello whelp" Skulker slyly grinned at his prey.

"Oh great, what? Did Ember break up with you again? You get called a lousy hunter? Or are you just bored and want my pelt hanging on your wall? He retorted as he pushed himself off the earth.

"None of your business, although I do bring a message from my superior." Superior? Vlad. Danny though bitterly. Great, what was the fruit loop up to this time?

"And what would that be? Did he get another cat? Ooh! Maybe he finally signed up for therapy!" Danny smirked at the hunting ghost, downplaying his fears of what was to come. If Vlad and Skulker were behind something it was bad, and things never turned out well for the younger halfa.

"He said that you should have joined him while you had the chance, now you are going to suffer the way he did. Alone. Then maybe you will reconsider and join him."

"Fat chance on that one"

"We'll see about that ghost-child" Another ecto-gun popped up from the ghost's suit and launched several exploding blasts at the unsuspecting boy. Danny did his best to dodge them, but a stray ecto-charged ball slammed into him once again, the explosion pushing him back onto the ground. _This isn't good, all this noise is bound to alert mom…how am I going to explain Phantom's presence in the middle of nowhere. She is going to become even MORE suspicious._

Skulker picked the wounded halfa up by the collar of his HAZMAT suit and pulled out a device that eerily resembled the Plasmius Maximus. As if right on que, his mother jumped from the trees, ecto weapon in hand, and barged right towards the two spooks.

"Where is my son you vile pieces of ectoplasm?!"

"Oh don't worry ghost huntress, you'll see him again soon enough" Skulker replied while chuckling. He turned the device on and brought it closer to Phantom. Suddenly, he jabbed it up and through Phantoms core, causing Danny to scream out bloody murder, his voice dangerously close to hitting the range of his Ghostly Wail. _This isn't happening!_ He yelled in his mind _I'll revert and she'll know everything that I've tried so hard to cover!_ But as quick as it began, the shock of the device stopped and the mechanical ghost withdrew it from the boy's core. He anxiously waited for the sound of his mother's gasp at his transformation but soon realized he was still Phantom, yet he felt…off…like—

"Enjoy your trip now that your powers have been disabled. Oh and good luck trying to change back to your _other_ form whelp. This new Plasmius Maximus 3.0 lasts longer and leaves you stuck as a ghost with all the abilities as a puny human." He whispered to the young teen as he let go of the front of the spandex suit, throwing Danny unceremoniously to the ground. He gave another sly, evil smirk to the poor boy and flew off before Maddie could get a shot off.

Danny's head was spinning with all the events that had just taken place, still not fully comprehending what had happened. _I'm stuck as a human, but in my ghost form? For how long? Oh man, mom! How am I going to explain what happened to her 'son' and why I'm even here! She'll blame me for all of this. Oh man this is so bad! I'm so screwed!_ He was too caught up in his mental ramblings to not realize the charging whir of an ecto-gun that was pointed directly at his body.

 ***Laughs evilly* I love putting poor Danny into pressing situations! Hope you all enjoyed! As always please leave me some feedback. Next chapter will have some interesting observations from your favorite ghost hunting, paranormal scientist mother! Oh, and Danny's life is about to go from bad to worse :) I have a lot of tests coming up the next two weeks, but I'll try to get Chapter 3 up as soon as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3: Free Fallin'

If Danny had been full human, he would probably be hyperventilating. This was one of the worst case scenarios he could be in; stuck as Phantom, with his mother, without his powers, and with no way to switch back. He could barely make out a voice, it sounded angry with a hint of fear, realizing he should probably pay some attention, he quickly pulled himself out of his stupor and immediately wished he hadn't.

"—going to ask one more time Phantom, WHERE is my son?!" his eyes focused on the glowing barrel of the ectogun. _Great, now what Fenton?_ He could run, but where to? His mom could easily catch him and he couldn't give her the slip, not without being able to go invisible.

He looked at the ground in front of him "I'm sorry" his voice barely above a whisper. "I wish I knew where he was, but I don't. I'm so sorry".

"You're lying" Maddie inched even closer, he could feel the heat radiating off the barrel as it closed in on his chest. He looked up in just enough time to see her finger wrap tightly around the trigger, his reflexes thankfully kicking in as he barely dodged the ectoblast. With the game of cat and mouse officially beginning, he jumped around, blast after blast nearly hitting him and having nothing to protect himself with as he kept dodging and stepping backwards, until suddenly there was nothing to step back onto.

Fear bubbled up within him as he quickly regained his balance on the delicate edge of the drop-off. A glance from his peripherals let him see that it wasn't a large cliff, thankfully, but it was still a good 10-15 foot drop down to the river below. He looked at his mom, fear and pleading evident on his face "p-please mo-Maddie, don't do this. Please I—"

He was cut off mid-sentence, Maddie had fired a blast that Danny had been too distracted to completely be able to avoid, the energy slamming into his side as he desperately tried to dodge the onslaught. The force knocked him back, just enough for the young half-ghost to lose footing again and plummet to the cold water below. Maddie quickly retreated back into the trees and headed to the campsite all while hoping to find her son. _Maybe Danny ran off when the attack started and made it back to camp!_ She continued to march on through the thick brush that surrounded their campsite, however her hopes were quickly dashed as she glanced around the small clearing of their camp. Her son, as she had feared, was nowhere to be seen. Tears pricked in her eyes as she activated the small ghost shield over hers and Danny's tents, just in case of any further attacks or in case her lost son returned to seek shelter. She gathered several supplies and weapons and headed out to search once more for her boy.

Meanwhile, Danny agonizingly pulled himself onto the small rocky beach that lined the water, coughing up some of the murky liquid from his lungs. His body protested his every move, a strangled gasp escaping his lips as he put weight on his left arm. "Definitely broken" he muttered aloud as he did a mental check of his injuries.

A broken arm, ectoblast burn to his right side of his abdomen, a heavily bruised ankle and a long gash on the same leg from where he hit a rather sharp rock along the bottom of the creek. His day was going from bad to worse real fast, of course, his luck was never the best, but this was borderline insane. He lay there contemplating his next move—should he even move? Nothing felt wrong internally but that didn't mean he couldn't have some sort of injury that could be slowly killing him. He managed to painfully chuckle "Well, finish killing me anyways".

It was getting cold, the sun had already sunk below the horizon. "Great, I'll either freeze to death, bleed internally if that fall did any serious damage, or get eaten by some wild animal because I'm too defenseless to do anything!" He rested his head against the soft sand, maybe he could just rest his eyes for just a moment…

"Danny? Danny, where are you sweetie?!"

"I-" _I can't call out to her, I'm just a putrid ghost to her…_ he sighed and threw his good arm over his eyes. "Come on, change back…please…" his voice cracking as tears threated to form and spill from his neon green orbs. "You are supposed to be a hero, yet you can't even save yourself. How pathetic."

It was dark now, forcing Maddie to flip on the power of the small flashlight. She had been searching for an hour now with no signs of her youngest child.

"I wish there was some way to track him" she mused aloud. _Wait a second!_ "That's it! The 'boo'merang, along with most of their other devices, would always key into Danny for some strange reason! She reached into the backpack and pulled out the V shaped electronic, the green bulb coming to life and steadily flashing. "Find Danny…please" she willed it, partially doubting it would actually work as she tossed it from her grasp. It flew in the direction she threw it in for a split second before making a 90 degree turn and heading another direction. She followed the device hope sparking in her chest. However, that same spark quickly fizzled out as she approached a gulch, the 'boo'merang hovering over the crevasse before quickly dropping down towards the water below.

"No…NO!" several worst case scenarios popped into her head. With his clumsiness he could have fallen, or had been dropped into the water from one of those ghosts…and from that height? He could be hurt! Or worse! _No!_ She mentally scolded, he was fine, and there was no way she could think that—

"OW!" A male voice cried out as her heart leaped out of her chest; that was her son's voice! He was alive!

"Danny! Are you okay sweetie?!" See peered over the edge, her flashlight sweeping across until it reached a figure. Joy exploded in her heart but it was quickly replaced. It wasn't her son. It was that no good Phantom punk. Her eyes narrowed, of course the one time the device would pick up a ghost it would be when she needed it to track her son. Distraught, she shook her head and began to head back to camp.

"Please, don't leave me here…" She barely caught it, the voice sounded so pitiful and sad, but what caught her off guard the most was the amount of emotion in the voice. She couldn't believe it. Phantom was still trying to trick her and win her sympathy! Maddie had to hand it to the young ghost, he was a decent actor, but she was a scientist and an expert in the paranormal, she wasn't going to fall for his trap that easily. Without a second glance she continued on through the dense foliage.

 _I swear the first thing I'm doing when I get out of here is destroying every last one of those damn devices_ he thought bitterly to himself, still rubbing the side of his head. His mom had left him several minutes ago and now the teen was left to his own thoughts, all of which were instantly forgotten at the first howl of a coyote.

"Maybe I should try to get somewhere safer..." He slowly—and painfully—made his was to his feet and limped down the riverbank a bit until he came to an accessible embankment. With one foot in front of the other and catching himself with his good arm when he stumbled, Danny slowly made his way up the steep hill.

Maddie had crawled into her tent and was in the process of pulling the cover back on her sleeping bag when she heard a loud rustling in the underbrush outside the safety of her tent and ghost shield. She brushed it off as some wild animal passing through until she heard the very human sounding gasps of air as the footsteps edged towards her. Had Danny made it back?! She jolted out from the front of the tent, grabbing her flashlight in the process. She pointed it in the direction of the noises and much to her surprise and excitement, saw her son standing in the clearing—for a split second. The ghost hunter then spotted the infamous DP logo on a torn black and white spandex suit, white hair, and toxic neon green eyes. It was Phantom…again.

"Go away spook"

He didn't even acknowledge her, just simply collapsed where he was standing, emitting only a slight whimper of pain before curling up into a ball near the fire pit. _Whatever, I don't have time to deal with him right now. I need to rest up so I can get help searching for Danny when the sun comes up._ She zipped up the entryway of her tent, _besides, he can't get me. I'm completely safe from_ **any** _attack inside the ghost shield._

 **AH! So I am so sorry about not updating last week like I wanted to, school and work have sucked any free time (as well as what little soul I had left) away from me. I was supposed to have more at the end of the chapter, but realized it would work better if I included it with the beginning of chapter 4 so I cut it out and will have the next installment up hopefully soon. I've also decided that this story will have around 8 chapters and I have a rough outline as to what will go into each, chapter 4 will possibly be a bit smaller than chapters 2 and 3, but it all depends on how my muse is feeling at that time.**

 **As always leave me a review telling me what you think so far!**


	4. Chapter 4: Ghosts,Secrets,& Bears,Oh My!

Dr. Madeline Fenton was a lot of things, scientist being one of those, but she, like many people, did have momentary lapses of judgement. The situation she currently found herself in was proof of that as she found herself silently cursing her lack of preparation and contemplating her next move.

She had been so busy worrying about a ghost, namely Phantom, attacking her while she slept and trying to figure out where her son was at that it didn't occur to her that _non_ -ghostly beings could still attack her at any given moment. A large black grizzly bear towered over her destroyed tent as the beast raised its deadly paw, the razor sharp claws barely glinting in the pre-dawn light. At the current moment she was all but completely screwed. She was facing a living opponent, cocooned in her sleeping bag, with the nearest weapon laying just beyond reach unfortunately was an ectogun, which would have little effect on a bear.

The large fur covered arm swung down at the defenseless ghost hunter, Maddie closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

It never came. A rock ricocheted off of the bears head and plopped next to her on the ground.

"Over here you brute!" The otherworldly voice echoed. The bear turned and focused in on its new target, placing its large paws down on the earth, just inches from Maddie's face, and leapt towards the ghost boy.

"Uh-oh, someone isn't _bear-y_ happy!" He flashed a childish grin at the scientist before placing his palm outwards to shoot an ectoray at the beast.

Nothing happened. Phantom flipped the gloved hand over, as if inspecting a device that had malfunctioned before slapping said hand to his forehead. Maddie barely made out his voice whispering something along the lines of, "That's right, no powers" and "At least it's away from her."

Shock resonated in Maddie's mind and across her facial features. Phantom is powerless, and yet he still was risking his afterlife to save her. _Don't let your guard down Maddie, he is a manipulative ghost. This is all an act to get you to trust him, then he'll attack._

The bear launched itself at the ghost, who didn't move fast enough, and the boy-like creature ended up getting knocked back down onto the ground. Resuming its previous position, the bear towered over its prey and went to attack. Phantom used his legs to kick upwards and was able to knock the animal back a little bit.

A relieved smirk rested on the boys features as he mumbled "nice to know I still have a bit of strength left". He pushed himself up off the ground with one arm Maddie noticed. His other arm hanging limp to his side, a large swollen area in the middle of his forearm. If the scientist wasn't mistaken, it almost looked broken, Phantom even winced whenever he would move it as he jumped around dodging the attacks. _That isn't possible. Ghosts don't have a calcified bone structure like humans! But its swollen and bent at an odd angle…why is Phantom always going against our knowledge and data on ghosts?!_

She realized the only way she was going to get her answers is if Phantom stayed alive—well, as alive as a ghost could get. She sprang into action, suddenly remembering she had packed away a Fenton Fishing Spear in her backpack. Relief spread through her mind as she dug into her bag and found the item almost immediately. Maddie pressed the button, causing the dagger sized item to quickly expand into its full 6 foot length.

A thump and a strangled cry sounded from behind her, Phantom found himself on the ground once more as the bear pounced on him again. She ran towards them, spear at the ready, as the bear used its claws to swipe at the boy, who instinctively put his arms up to defend himself.

Maddie wished to never hear that sound again. Despite his ghostly status, Phantom's cry out as the razor sharp claws scraped past his arm and across his abdomen was too human sounding, and the mother of two couldn't stand to hear the sounds of the pained child gasping and screaming out in pain as the bear prepared for another blow to the ghost.

Unbeknownst to the bear, Maddie was directly behind the beast of an animal and plunged the spear deep into its back. In a final act of defiance, the bear swung around, knocking the ghost hunter over, her ankle twisting painfully under her as she fell backwards. The bear tried to move again, but was quickly losing consciousness and toppled over onto the earth below.

Heavy breathing mixed with muffled whimpers met her ears, she glanced over to the Phantom laying on the ground several feet from her. His chest was rapidly rising and falling as he took in air, good arm putting pressure on the steady bleeding of his chest and stomach. The whole situation perplexed her, ghosts weren't supposed to breathe, yet here one was less than a stone's throw away and she could clearly here the inhale and exhale of air through his mouth.

Another thing bothering the seasoned ghost hunter about this was the idea that ghosts couldn't feel pain, but once again, she gaped wide eyed at the being before her, his body shaking and twitching in pain from his injuries. There was no way he was faking it, could their research on ghosts be wrong? Over 20 years of knowledge was currently being chucked out the window due to the odd behavior of this one spectral being.

Mother's intuition kicking in, she slowly crawled over to the young ghost. His face was scrunched up in pain and his eyes were closed. She looked over him, visually assessing his injuries. The ghost was bleeding out at a decent rate, but the gashes didn't seem to be too deep. Painfully, she got to her feet and hobbled back to what was left of their camp a short distance away. After several minutes of hopping and barely placing weight on her foot, she reached into one of the bags and produced a first aid kit, she turned to leave, but realized quickly that regular sutures probably wouldn't work on a ghost. She grabbed a Fenton Ghost Fisher, hoping that the phase-proof line would help stem the bleeding.

Hobbling back to Phantom, she set the kit down and apprehensively reached for his arm that was still draped over across his body. She gently grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from the wound. Phantom's neon green eyes shot open in fear and locked onto Maddie's own orbs.

"P-please…don't hurt me…" he barely rasped out. Maddie was once again astounded, here is a being that inflicts fear onto others, yet looked at her with such anxiety and fear in his unearthly eyes. That's when it dawned on her, Phantom had likely been a child when he had died, and in fact he didn't look much older than her Danny. Were his parents dead as well? Or were they still alive? Did that mean she had been shooting at somebody's child?

Fearing that Phantom would attack her if threatened, she spoke softly to him, as if speaking to a young child. "I'm trying to help you. This is going to hurt, but please stay still okay?"

Confusion etched its way past the pained features of the boy, "You are helping me? Why? I'm just a ghost…"

"True, you are a ghost, but you are also in pain and bleeding out at an alarming rate. I can't just leave you like that." In all honesty she didn't know exactly why she was helping her enemy, but some little voice in the back of her head told her to do it or she would never forgive herself for not assisting.

The sun had already lifted itself above the trees by the time she had finished stitching him up. She made a mental chart of his injuries as she worked. He had a crusted over gash running the length of his leg, as well as some swelling in the same leg and foot, the arm was definitely broken and she tried to help set it the best she could with what she had. An ectoplasm burn on his side made Maddie cringe, she had done that to the specter last night while trying to get information about her missing son and both of his arms had claw marks from the bear, but the worst of it were the gashes that raked across his body.

Her scientist mind had gone into overdrive at several points; his skin and muscle had layer to it, ectoplasm leaked out of wounds much like human blood would. This ghost had a bone structure and a more dense form than most other ghosts, but what stuck out to Maddie the most was the little copper red flecks among the toxic green of his 'blood'. At first she thought maybe some blood from the bear had mixed in with his ectoplasm, but after several stitches she could tell it was coming _from_ him. She also realized that a number of scars littered his small frame. Normal ghosts couldn't scar from injuries sustained after death, but Phantom kept breaking every boundary of that 'normal' mold of a ghost and it wouldn't surprise her the least if the injuries had come from the 'heroic' deeds he tried to do around Amity Park.

She finished wrapping the gauze around his chest and stomach, he had been lucky, the attack hadn't pierced anything major. She sat back, completely exhausted at this point, her hands covered in that strange mix of what seemed to be ectoplasm and blood. _He has such humanistic traits, could it be that he recently died and maybe new ghosts still retain some attributes of human life until they start becoming more obsessive? Or could he be a new species of ghost that her nor Jack had ever studied._

Phantom slowly sat up and tried to get a gauge on his mobility. He started chuckling slightly, "I look like a mummy with all this gauze on me". Maddie glanced at her handiwork on the young creature, her face broke out in a smile, she had to admit, with the amount of gauze on his abdomen, leg, and both arms; he looked like a sort of mummy-in-training. She went to get up, accidently placing her weight onto her injured foot and cried out in pain. The ghost was at her side in a flash, a feat that seemed near impossible with the amount of injuries he had sustained. A cool hand rested on her shoulder, "Are you okay?" The amount of sincere concern in his eyes was overwhelming to the veteran ghost hunter, _how is he doing this?!_

"I-I'm fine, just twisted my ankle is all", she reached for the first aid kit, but a firm grasp to her arm kept her from reaching it.

"Maddie" Phantom frowned, "please, let me" he took the kit and began to gingerly wrap her injured ankle. "That should do it" he smiled at her as he tied off the end, shuffling back slightly to give her some room.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks"

"No problem" a shy smile crept onto his face and his hand rubbed the back of his neck. It reminded Maddie of her son, _gosh I miss him so much. I really need to find him._ She stood up and limped back over to her destroyed tent, she reached into the cooler and pulled out a sandwich and a bottle of water. Her stomach had begun to growl earlier and there was no way she could search for Danny without eating something to build up her strength. Glancing back, she realized that Phantom was still sitting on the ground where she had left him, a pang of guilt rushed through her.

"I don't know if you are hungry, but I figured that you go against everything I know about ghosts, that maybe you eat as well. I will be leaving to get help within the next hour, I still need to find my son". She plopped an extra sandwich and water in front of him and sat down to rest her ankle. Phantom looked at her in shock.

"I'm sorry" Maddie looked up at him, her eyes narrowing at his words while fear bubbled in the back of her mind. "I wish I knew where your son was. I wish I could help, but I'm useless. I'm supposed to be the hero but I can't help save you or your son."

Ghost or not, she wasn't going to allow anyone to put themselves down, especially a teenager. "That isn't true Phantom" the ghosts head snapped up at her words. "You risked your afterlife to save me earlier with that bear. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you. I may not agree with all of your 'heroic' acts, but you did save me, and that counts as something in my book."

Her words seemed to do the trick as Phantom's face began to beam with pride and happiness. "T-thank you Maddie, really. You don't know how much it means for me to hear that, especially from you".

"Don't get to sappy on me ghost boy, I still don't trust you, but I'm willing to call a truce when all of this is done and over with _but_ only if you answer a few questions first" His smile immediately dropped and what little color on his pale face drained just as quick. _Man what I would do to have Jazz's ability to psychoanalyze people right now!_ He was definitely hiding something from her. Something huge. She just had to wear him down and try to figure that something out.

"Let's get moving and then I'll start off with the basics ok? The ranger station is still a nice hike from here and we are both sporting injuries that will take us longer to get there." A curt nod was all the response she received as she gathered a few essential items before heading out.

The first several minutes were dead silent between the two, Maddie figuring out which questions to ask, and Danny worrying about which questions she would ask him. _All it takes is one question or one goof up on an answer and she could figure out my secret. There is NO WAY I want her finding out in the middle of the woods, without my powers to back me up if things go haywire. I don't want her shooting at me while I can't throw up a shield or go intangible._

Maddie sighed, it was now or never. "So, I guess I'll start with the obvious ones first. How did you die?"

Danny's brow furrowed, he hadn't really thought of himself being half-dead, just half-ghost. _Well duh Fenton, ghosts are dead, which would make you HALF dead. If I wasn't a C student…_ Realizing that Maddie wanted an answer, preferably soon, he spoke up. "Um, well it was an accident" he started, "I was goofing off with some equipment that I wasn't supposed to be around and I guess it electrocuted me, it hurt, but not for very long. When I woke up, I looked like this." Despite his explanation he was still smiling, this intrigued Maddie even more.

"You don't seem to be sad that you died. I mean, you must have left behind family and friends. How do you think they feel knowing that you are gone?" She glanced at the boy, but was met with downcast eyes.

"My family…they uh, they don't even know I'm gone. In fact not a lot of people do."

Maddie scoffed "As a parent, I highly doubt that. I would notice right away if one of my children were missing, and besides, you've been haunting Amity Park for about a year now, you don't think they haven't noticed by now?"

"My parents are often caught up in work and can be quite oblivious to many things. I've checked on them countless times since I've um, died, and they haven't seemed to miss me much". His voice gradually got quieter, until the last part was barely a whisper. "I guess in a way to them it's like I'm still alive and that nothing is wrong".

"How old were you when you died?" Maddie barely got the question out of her mouth before the boy had responded.

"Fourteen" the quiet voice mustered out. "I was fourteen when I got thrown into all off this, just a kid. I was average, nothing special about me, but when this happened…I had a chance to change my life, a chance to be somebody." _So that is why he acts like a superhero! He was just a kid when he died. That also explains some of his less than 'heroic' actions. He is still at a critical age to be persuaded one way or another._ She wanted to ask him more questions, but with the strange mixture of sorrow and pride alternating across the ghost's features, she decided to give it a break for now. They still had plenty of time before they reached their destination.

 **Alright, so now begins Maddie's fun game of 20 questions with Phantom! Some MAJOR things take place next chapter that begin the journey to the final chapters. Thank you all for the continued support of this story, please continue to review and give me pointers on what you like/dislike! Side note of some crazy irony, shortly after I wrote the scene with the bear attack and Maddie hurting her ankle, I was in a minor incident where I had a several hundred pound piece of equipment land on my foot while on vacation this week. Thankfully I somehow didn't break any bones just some swelling and bruising, but at least now I get an excuse to do nothing all day until Monday when work and classes resume. Anyways, until next time my lovely readers!**


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